The Summer Snow Child
by Psycho gurl
Summary: When Shuichi comes back from his own three year American label things aren't as he expected. Yuki's child seems innocent enough, except for the damage she accidentaly does to their fragile relationship. Can Yuki explain before things get out of hand?
1. Complications of the mini size

Disclaimers: Gravitation is not mine, I only wish that it was. I'm also broke. All you'd get is my flute if you tried, and I doubt any of you want it. It hardly works sometimes and it has my spit in it...  
  
Warnings: Umm...shounen ai, stupidity on authoress's part, TONS of typos here and there (did that make ANY sense?) because I suck at editing...  
  
Pairings: Shuichi and Yuki in this chapter  
  
~*The Summer Snow Child*~  
  
"So when's he gonna get he'a?" the hyper, brown-haired ball of energy asked from where she was standing next to her father, tugging on his sleeve anxiously. She'd been waiting so long for this moment. Children weren't so good at telling time, and the two, almost three, years she'd spent waiting seemed like an eternity. There'd already been so much to miss in her life. Not to say that her dad had been there for all of it either, but she didn't remember her mother very well so she didn't figure her mother had been there for much important.  
  
"I don't know," he answered easily, eyes still focused where he was sure the plane would land.  
  
"Why not? Daddy knows ev'awything!" she chirped from where she stood next to him, smiling up at him happily. Her dad had tought her more than most people her age, and she was very proud of the fact. She was already in first grade!  
  
"Nobody knows. It will be determined later." He smiled down at her and she raised her hands up to him, being picked up almost as quickly as she did so. "I miss him," he spoke to himself softly and the little girl smiled happily, pulling sunglasses off her father's face to place them on her own, both being an identical, deep gold color to each other.  
  
It was about that time that the young singer skipped happily out of his seat as they landed, overjoyed with the thought that he would be able to walk around on solid ground in just a few short minutes. The glare he recieved from the stuartess, who had been giving him glares since the flight had started, didn't even phase him. She just wasn't paid enough to have to to deal with such idiots. Both of them were too much for her poor nervous system to handel. Quite a few times they'd heard her screaming from the sealed-off portion of the plane.  
  
"Come on, come on, I want off already!" he screamed as soon as the girl was done with her speech, letting them know that they could get off. He jumped with joy, he could hardly wait to get back home to all his stuff. All the little things he couldn't bring with him. Not to mention his friends, and house, and...  
  
Yuki.  
  
"I'm back!" he screamed loudly as he stepped into the airport. It had been three years since he'd followed in his idol's footsteps, since he'd last been in Japan. Back home. They'd decided to travel like everyone else because it seemed like a cheaper idea, and Shuichi really hadn't minded. Besides, he didn't really NEED his own personal jet ride home. He could wait a little bit longer. Just a little bit.  
  
"Shuichi!" Shuichi blinked as a little girl ran up to him and clung to his shirt in a near-death grip. She was tiny, Shuichi had never known someone so young in his life. She smiled up at him happily, sunglasses partially falling off her face from where they'd unhooked from her ear, mostly because they'd been too big. "I've wanted to meet you fo so long! You we'a all I ev'a heawd about at home!" she screamed enthusiastically and Shuichi had to wonder if that was how he'd acted at her age. It seemed like it, she was energetic enough to be a mini him.  
  
"So, you're a fan?" He asked, somewhat confused. This girl acted as if she already knew him, but she had just said that she'd never met him before. The little girl seemed to stop stunned for a bit as well, her visible eye blinking a couple times in confusion. Suddenly she screamed and was jerked back harshly, sunglasses sliding off her face and falling to the floor as she let go of Shuichi's shirt.  
  
"Yukiko! Don't run off like that!"  
  
"But...I wanted to see Shuichi. You made me wait so long..."  
  
"This is a big place, with lots of people. Shuichi's only one of them!" he scolded, worry draining from where it had once been visible on his face. Yukiko smiled and hugged him tightly.  
  
"So'wy, but I wanted to meet him so bad, daddy." Daddy? Daddy? She'd just called him...daddy?  
  
"Yu...ki?" Shuichi asked numbly as he looked up from where he had bent over to pick up the girls sunglasses. He would have recognized that voice anywhere but seeing his face ment so much more. Or it would have. If it hadn't have followed the horrid word. Daddy...  
  
"Shuichi..." Yuki wasn't necisarrily pleased with the look he was receiving from Shuichi at the moment. He looked...sad, hurt, and...somewhat angry. Worse part was, the hurt and sadness in those eyes was what he was more afraid of. However, without saying a word Shuichi dropped to his knees in front of Yukiko and held out the sunglasses, smiling slightly.  
  
"Are these yours...?" he seemed to pause and try to remember her name so she smiled and introduced herself properly.  
  
"Saito Yukiko, but you can call me Yukiko," she answered as she took the sunglasses from Shuichi's hands, nodding. She was about ready to thank him but as soon as the sunglasses were out of his hands he pushed past her and Yuki and ran as fast as he could away from them, leaving both of them too stunned to follow him. "Daddy, does he hate me?" She asked, turning to look at Yuki, who was watching Shuichi run off quickly.  
  
"I don't see why he would," he answered, knowing full well why Shuichi was running. Running as fast as he could away from them, and Yukiko couldn't even begin to understand the reason why. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"  
  
~~~  
  
"Yuki you idiot! Idiot! Jerk! Loser! How could you DO this to me?" Shuichi screamed as he ran, not bothering to look back to see whether they were still there or not. He didn't care. Those eyes, those bright gold eyes. Of course she was Yuki's child. Why shouldn't Yuki have gone back to his old habits after he'd left? Had he really meant so little to him?  
  
Tears slid down his face in steady streams as he continued to run. He didn't see how Yuki COULD have done that to him! He hadn't looked at anyone like that in all the three years he was gone! How could Yuki have given up on him! And he'd had a child. He probably had a perfect wife to match. Why not? It was Yuki's life, not his.  
  
After a while of what he guessed was pointless running, maybe even running in circles he stopped, falling to the ground and panting for air. "Yuki you jerk...How? Why? Didn't you care at all?" he sobbed, drawing more attention to himself than he normally would have liked but not caring in the least. The last thing he'd needed to see first thing when he got home was Yuki's beautiful little child.  
  
~~~  
  
"Explain." Yuki blinked as he felt the cold metal of the gun against his forehead. Great, just what he'd needed, a confrontation with him. Standing up straight he stared him down evenly.  
  
"Not now. I'll explain to Shuichi, but I'm not sending a messenger boy with the explanation."  
  
"I won't tell, I just want to know why you did this to him?" Neither man's expression changed in the slightest. Yukiko frowned at the seriousness between the two and tugged on Yuki's arm to get his attention. Immediately his attention switched to that of the little girl, who was staring up at him innocently.  
  
"Shouldn't we go find Shuichi? You said this ai'aport is a big place and Shuichi's only one person so he might get lost," she reasoned cutely. If it wouldn't have been for her slight problem with her 'r's her speech would have been near that of Shuichi already, which was quite a feat considering the age difference.  
  
"He probably is," Yuki commented the same way he always had back before Shuichi had left. As if he didn't really care for the answer, or the consiquences Shuichi may have to pay because of it. He knelt and picked Yukiko up easily, turning to stare evenly at K again. "I'll save my explanation for Shuichi, some time when she's not around. Tell him it's not what he thinks. I don't want him hating me so easily," he reasoned easily, turning to walk away. However, as soon as he reached the privacy of his car he lost it, burrying his face in his arms as he leaned against the stearing wheel and started crying. This was the whole reason he'd taken her in the first place.  
  
"Daddy?" Yukiko undid her seatbelt from where she'd been sitting in the back and climbed between the gap in the seats, sitting down next to her father. "Daddy, what's w'ong? Let me know," she pleaded, leaning her head against his arm. She felt like crying herself now. Her daddy was sad because of her. Techinically becuase Shuichi had left, but that had been because of her so it was truely her fault. "I'm so'wy, daddy. I just...wanted to meet him," she explained softly, staring out the window and hoping Shuichi would appear and make everything better. "I'll go find him!" She cheered happily when she realized Shuichi wasn't going to magically appear like most people did in the TV shows.  
  
Yuki looked up and tried to grab her arm but she was out of the car and running back into the building before he could stop her. Immediately he followed, hoping she wouldn't get too lost, she was what had kept him stable when Shuichi had left. If both of them left him he'd have nothing left to fall back on. Three years was enough to seriously change someone, and Yuki had changed drastically from the last time Shuichi had seen him within three months of that. He cared a great deal about the people he'd normally ignored or insulted and had found Shuichi to be his main focus point. The similarities between Shuichi and Yukiko had made her a simple change to have made into his spot. Now all he had to do is keep his centers in tact and he was sure things would work out somewhat. However, as Shuichi counted for one person in an airport Yukiko counted for a half, being so small that finding her was going to be a BIG problem.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Okays, this is just kind of my break fic. I'm not planning on writing much more on this than another chapter or two. Sorry this is so short but it just wanted to end. Maybe I'll just write more onto this chapter later but this seems like a good place to end and I'm drop dead tired and I have softball tomorrow. Nighty night all! I'll try to finish this over this weekend and then I'll work some more on Angels of Innocence and get started with my Bloodred Valentine sequel I've had planning for so long now. 


	2. Works like...TV shows

Disclaimers: Gravitation is not mine, I only wish that it was. I'm also broke. All you'd get is my flute if you tried, and I doubt any of you want it. It hardly works sometimes and it has my spit in it...  
  
Warnings: Umm...shounen ai, stupidity on authoress's part, TONS of typos here and there (did that make ANY sense?) because I suck at editing...  
  
Pairings: Shuichi and Yuki  
  
Notes:  
  
/thoughts/  
  
~~~~~  
  
flashback  
  
~~~~~  
  
~*The Summer Snow Child*~  
  
Yukiko only realized how incredibly SMALL she was after already running into the building. Without her daddy next to her she had no way to get through the crowds that were pushing their way past her, probably not even realizing she was there. However, she was determined not to give up, even if she died trying. That thought made tears well up in her eyes. She didn't want to die and make her daddy even more unhappy. Swerving her way in and out of the crowd as best she could, which was pretty well since she was so small, she stopped in the middle of the airport and tried to think of possible places Shuichi could have run off to.  
  
"Come on Yukiko. It's just like a little game of hide-and-seek. All you have to do now is find him." However, despite that thought being meant to comfort her she instead ended up pouting. "I always gave up in hide-and- seek!" she scolded herself loudly, once again swirving around the legs that were walking towards her and making her way deeper into the airport.  
  
However, the sounds of someone crying drew her attention away from her task. Sure, she wanted to find Shuichi and make her dad happy, but making someone else happy shouldn't take so long. At least, not as long as they didn't want her to find someone else. She was already lost enough. "Maybe they can help me find Shuichi!" she cheered hapily, running as fast as she could through the crowd, startling the people who noticed her.  
  
She blinked as she stepped near the little area where Shuichi was leaning against the wall, face burried in his knees. People were avoiding the area around Shuichi and she had to wonder if she wasn't supposed to cross the line of people. She stepped into the little secluded area regardless of what the answer was and marched over to Shuichi. He was the one who'd been crying, and Yukiko had the feeling that was her fault too. Dropping to her knees in front of him she pressed her forehead to the top of his head.  
  
"Sowy," she muttered silently and Shuichi looked up immediately. She fell back and screamed in surprise, blinking up at him from where she had landed on her butt. "Why a' you sad, Shuichi? Did I do something w'ong?"  
  
"Yukiko...what are you doing here? Yuki and your mother are probably looking for you," he stated harshly, turning his head away from her and whiping his tears on his sleeve. It was pretty sad when you're a good four to seven times older than the person in front of you and YOU'RE the only one crying.  
  
"I don't have a motha," she answered easily and Shuichi turned to face her, eyes filled with shock. "I know I had one once, but that was befoa I had a daddy. I only 'member a little about he'a." Shuichi's turned away again, ashamed. So he'd just said something stupid again, and to a little kid. "Come on home with us, please?" she pleaded, sitting up and wrapping tiny arms around his neck to hug him gently.  
  
"I don't think Yuki would want me to," he stated rejectedly, moving a bit to sit crosslegged. Yukiko frowned a bit before crawling into his lap.  
  
"Why not?" she asked, letting go of him and simply staring up at him from her position in her lap.  
  
"I don't think Yuki likes me anymore. I'd probably be an inconvienience to him, especially since your mom isn't around for him now." Yukiko's frown deepened even as she continued to stare up at him with a confused look on her face.  
  
"Why? Did you and Daddy get into a fight o'a something?" Shuichi blinked a couple times before he remembered the fight he'd had with Yuki before he'd left. Maybe that was why Yuki had left him. "What happened?" she asked, noticing the change on Shuichi's face after she'd said that. This was starting to work out like one of those television shows she watched after all. The people who ran away from each other ALWAYS got into a fight first.  
  
Shuichi hugged Yukiko tightly as he started crying again. He didn't know why but he found some comfort in her, maybe because she was a small part of Yuki now. However, he knew that thought he should have felt bad around her for that same fact.  
  
It has been the day before he had to leave for America that he and Yuki had gotten into their little fight. Well, it had started out as a little fight anyway. It had managed to turn into something bigger after a while.  
  
~~~~~  
  
"Yuki PLEASE! I have to leave tomorrow, don't you care at all?! I'm not going to be able to see you for YEARS!" the hurt look that flashed across Yuki's face went completely unnoticed by Shuichi as he followed him around the house, begging him. He'd been begging him since that morning.  
  
"You can't just blow off things like this, Shuichi," he stated calmly as he sat down, turning on his laptop.  
  
"You have before and you know it! I know it! Why can't you now!?" to tell the truth Yuki had made the interveiw that day for a reason. Shuichi was right, he had blown off things like that before, but he WOULDN'T blow this one off. There was no way. He couldn't go and see Shuichi off, the thought of Shuichi leaving was bad enough. Watchin the singer leave would hurt even more. However, Shuichi seem completely unaware of how much the idea hurt him, continuing to plead with him to go.  
  
"I can't Shuichi. You don't understand." Shuichi clenched his fist from where he was standing behind him, feeling his fingernails dig into his skin. Tears formed in the corner of his eyes as Yuki continued to ignore him, continuing on his novel instead. "I promise I'll pick you up when you come back, but I have things to do tomorrow. Try to understand. " /Please/ he added in his mind. He knew that Shuichi wouldn't ever really understand, Shuichi would see him off into hell without a second thought. However, Shuichi meant too much to Yuki to be able to do that. He was cool and collected at all times, while Shuichi was not. While Shuichi could freely cry and wish him good-bye Yuki couldn't force himself to do so, he had spent too long in his soliatry life. Not to mention that his pride wouldn't let him do it.  
  
"Don't think that I don't understand! I'm not stupid!" Shuichi screamed, too upset to think things through completely. He should have known better than to scream at Yuki. However, he was hurt, REALLY hurt, and Yuki didn't give a damn. It was about time he did.  
  
Yuki turned his chair around to face him, looking more than unpleased with him. Shuichi gasped and unclenched his hands, loosing what reslove he'd had before. The silence stretched as Yuki continued to glar at Shuichi, his own frightened eyes locked with his.  
  
"I'm not," Shuichi finally restated, breaking the silence effectively.  
  
"I never said you were. But you are stubborn, unreasonable, and more than a little spoiled," Yuki countered easily and Shuichi's eyes widened visibly.  
  
"S-spoiled?" he repeated, clenching his hands again. Out of all the things he'd been called in his life spoiled had never been one of them. Ever.  
  
"Yes, spoiled. You expect me to do everything for you. To throw away everything I worked so hard to build for you. You want me to be what YOU want me to be. And when I won't do it, you cry. And then you expect me to comfort you, and Ialways do. I spoil you, and you've gotten too used to it." Spoiled. He really was spoiled, wasn't he? Yuki was right, he spent so much time focusing on what he wanted. Always. It had always been like that. However, he wasn't about to give into that so easily.  
  
"What about you?! You treat me like crap and I put up with it! No matter what you do I stay here and put up with it! Who said I WANTED you to pick me up when I got back! What I leave for America and find a really pretty girl who wants to stay with me forever and I never COME back?! I listen to EVERYTHING you tell me! EVERYTHING! I'm sick of following your every order! I'm not spoiled, you are! You know I'll do what you want me to do and you take advantage of it! I'm always doing things for you!" Yuki's expression didn't change, which only made Shuichi cry harder, falling to his knees and sobbing. "Why do you hate me?! What did I do wrong?!" Before Yuki could answer he stood up and ran out of the room, grabbing his already packed things and running out of the apartment as fast as he could. He would just have to stay with Hiro that night. Hiro said he'd see him off so they'd both be going to the same place anyway. Hiro'd probably be glad to see him one last night before he left.  
  
Yuki got up and closed the door to his apartment, leaning back against it. "You didn't do anything wrong. That's why I love you. That's why I can't see you off tomorrow. One day you'll have to understand."  
  
~~~~~  
  
Yukiko leaned her head against Shuichi's shoulder as he continued to hold her and cry. It was kind of comforting, in a strange sense. She felt safe when she was with her daddy, but with Shuichi she just felt...needed she guessed. It was a strange feeling for someone her age, to be really needed. She knew that her daddy needed her, but her daddy had never gone to her for comfort. Her presence was enough for him, while Shuichi actually needed something from her.  
  
She giggled a bit as Shuichi's hair brushed against her cheek and neck (her neck was sort of ticklish) and clung to Shuichi's shirt tighter. "You'a hai'a is soft, Shuichi. Just like daddy said," she mummbled, shutting her eyes as Shuichi's sobbing slowed considerably. Shuichi felt nice, safe like her daddy yet kinda cudely like a stuffed animal. It was a weird mix, to say the least. Curling a strand of Shuichi's hair around one finger she fell asleep. Other hand still clinging loosely to his shirt.  
  
Shuichi sighed as he felt Yukiko fall asleep, picking her up off his lap gently and leaning back against the wall, supporting her as she slept so she didn't wake up. For the first time Shuichi actually bothered to take a good look at her. She was kind of tiny, but not really, with short brown hair and large gold eyes he'd noticed before. He wondered if Yuki looked anything like her when he was her age...whatever that was. She did remind him an aweful lot of Yuki. Smart and sweet and beautiful. Shuichi was willing to bet her mother had possesed those traits as well.  
  
He jumped as the crowd in front of him moved, tightening his hold on Yukiko somewhat, making her move a little in her sleep. He blinked a couple times as he caught sight of Yuki stading in front of him. Well, he had been standing, know he was kneeling down in front of him and Yukiko. Shuichi blinked a couple times before removing Yukiko's finger from his hair and handing her back to Yuki. However, instead of picking her up he merely leaned over and kissed her cheek, pressing her back against Shuichi's chest.  
  
"Idiots. Both of you," he stated as Shuichi stared at him, confused. "So, are you coming back home or should I wake her up and let her say goodbye?" Yuki asked, a confusing look on his face. Shuichi had the horrible feeling that Yuki'd do whatever he told him to do. He looked down at the sleeping child in his arms and felt the tears well up again. She was sweet, she was beautiful, she was everything he'd have wanted from a child, she...wasn't his. Wouldn't ever be his. She was Yuki's, and whatever memory of a woman Yuki continued to hold. He couldn't continue to dream that he could stay with her in a perfect exsistence, things didn't work that way.  
  
"Do you want me to come back? I figured...after all the things I said...that you wouldn't show up. That you wouldn't want me to come back," Shuichi explained rejectedly, still staring at Yukiko.  
  
"Idiot, of course I want you to come back. Hell, she wanted you to come back and she'd never met you. We were both being spoiled that day. Come home and I promise I'll explain things to you," Yuki offered and Shuichi nodded, using the wall to help him stand up with the added weight of Yukiko in his arms. As they started walking towards the exit Shuichi finally voiced what had been bugging him since he'd seen Yuki again.  
  
"Did...did you love her?" Shuichi asked, stopping. Yuki stopped as well and turned around. Thankfully the crowd was thining as the minutes passed by.  
  
"I cared for her, yes, but I never loved her," Yuki answered easily, hands burried in her pockets.  
  
"So it's true then. You really did...leave me. If it would have been an accident, I wouldn't have minded so much, but..." Shuichi spoke more to himself than Yuki, staring down at the ground. "I'm sorry, but I just can't do this Yuki. I can't go home and be around you both, it hurts too much. To know that you left me and had a child. I just...I can't." Yuki sighed and walked forward, resting his hands on Shuichi's shoulders and hoping Shuichi would understand the simple sentence he offered as comfort.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
AND YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT IT IS UNTIL NEXT CHAPTER!!! BUHAHAHAHAHA! Although I doubt any of you really care. Sorry this took so long to get out but my mind's constantly straying to my other ficcies (I NEED to finish those as soon as I finish this one. Maybe then I'll continue with this but right now it's a break from those). Hahaha! Everything will be explained in the next chapter! Until then...  
  
BYEBYE!!!  
  
P.S.--If anyone was wondering about the title of this fic I'll have it explained next chapter. 


	3. Fixing the complications of the not-so-m...

Disclaimers: Gravitation is not mine, I only wish that it was. I'm also broke. All you'd get is my flute if you tried, and I doubt any of you want it. It hardly works sometimes and it has my spit in it...  
  
Warnings: Umm...shounen ai, stupidity on authoress's part, TONS of typos here and there (did that make ANY sense?) because I suck at editing...  
  
Pairings: Shuichi and Yuki  
  
Notes:  
  
/thoughts/  
  
~~~~~  
  
flashback  
  
~~~~~  
  
~*The Summer Snow Child*~  
  
Shuichi felt Yuki's hands on his shoulder and closed his eyes immediately, wishing the tears to stay back, to be strong for once in his life. /He's going to tell you he doesn't love you, she meant more than you. That she can offer him things you can't. A normal family. A normal relationship. That your relationship isn't normal and that you should just go and live with Hiro and maybe he'll start li.../  
  
"She's five and a half, Shuichi," Shuichi opened his eyes and blinked a couple times, letting his mind stop imagining what Yuki was going to say and focus instead on what he had said. Five and a half? What did that have to do with anything. But, that look. That look in Yuki's eyes. It had to be something important, didn't it? Fiove and a half, which meant she was born five and a half years ago. Yuki had left him five and a half years ago...he hadn't known Yuki five and a half years ago! So, he hadn't left him!  
  
"Really?" He asked hopefully, eyes brightening considerably and Yuki smiled slightly.  
  
"Really. Born July 15, 1999. I'll explain the whole story when we get home, okay?" Shuichi nodded happily and followed Yuki out of the airport. He would have skipped if he hadn't been holding Yukiko. Five and a half. She was five and a half. He didn't think he'd ever been so happy in his life. Yuki HAD waited for him after all! "Could you put her in the backseat?" Yuki asked as they reached his car again, only then realizing he had left his keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked. Thankfully no one else had noticed, either.  
  
"Sure," Shuichi answered as Yuki opened the door for him, setting her down in the seat she had occupied earlier and catching sight of the paper and board on the seat next to her. "What're these?" he asked as he picked them up and Yuki looked back at him from where he was waiting for Shuichi.  
  
"Drawings. She couldn't keep herself intertained on the ride here otherwise," Yuki answered, watching as Shuichi shifted through them, curious.  
  
"She won't mind if I look at them, will she?" he asked, looking over at him. Yuki shook his head.  
  
"She's five, Shuichi. She shows you everything, so I don't think she'll mind you seeing those." Shuichi giggled and actually started to look at the pictures, flipping through them slowly. Sure, they were still stick figures and all, but they had at least evolved to having fingers. He stopped on a picture of three stick figures, a big one, a smaller one, and an even smaller one. Little labels by each stick figure. Daddy, the tallest, Yukiko, the shortest, and Shuichi the other. Shuichi squinted at the black smudge above his name, holding it up at the sun and hoping he would be able to read what was colored over. "Daddy 2," Yuki stated and Shuichi looked over at him, blinking a couple times in confusion. "It says daddy 2 but I told her to cross it out since I wasn't sure you'd want her calling you that. I've been trying to get her to call you Shindou-san for a while now but she won't settle for anything less than Shuichi." Shuichi smiled brightly and set the drawings back down next to Yukiko before buckling her in and closing the door, sitting down in the passenger side of Yuki's car.  
  
Shuichi continued to wipe non-exsistant dust off his pants for the begining of the ride home, not saying anything, which Yuki found quite strange. "Yuki?" Yuki glanced over at him quickly to let him know he had his attention, not wanting to crash the car. "I'm sorry I screamed at you before I left. I was just really scared that you'd leave me again while I was gone," Shucihi appologized and Yuki blinked a couple times himself. Why was he thinking about that? It was over and done with, he'd never been mad at him.  
  
"It's okay. I wasn't mad, really. It may have seemed like I was, but I wasn't. Sorry I was such an ass to you for so long." Shuichi smiled brightly, eyes lighting up.  
  
"I didn't mind it, really. But things'll change now, right?" Shuichi asked happily, clinging to Yuki's sleeve like Yukiko often did when she wanted something. "No more sceaming and hurting?" Shuichi asked hopefully, leaning over to where the slightest bump would probably have landed him straight in Yuki's lap. Unfortunately they never hit that bump.  
  
"Of course," Yuki anwered in return and Shuichi sat back up, humming to himself contentedly as they made their way home again.  
  
Yukiko woke up only a half hour drive left from the house, rubbing sleep from her eyes and mummbling to herself about Shuichi before she realized she was moving fast. Gold eyes snapped open and she leaned forward to grab the back of Yuki's seat.  
  
"Daddy! What about Shuichi?! He's coming back home with us, w'ight? You couldn't have just LEFT him! Could you?" Yuki looked back at her breifly and smiled a bit, pointing to where Shuichi was sleeping in the passenger seat. Yukiko covered her mouth immediately to appologize for screaming when Shuichi was sleeping, sitting back in her seat. She giggled a bit into her hand and Yuki turned to look at her as they hit a stop light.  
  
"What?" he asked and Yukiko blinked a couple times before pointing to Shuichi's seat.  
  
"He doesn't look so old when he's asleep," she pointed out and Yuki smiled, truely and genuinely. A soft smile that made him look younger and kinder. Yukiko blinked a couple times as Yuki continued to watch Shuichi sleep out of the corner of his eye, mainly focusing on the light. "Daddy?" Yuki looked back at her, still waiting for the light to change. "Is Shuichi cute? I know you said he was befo'a, but you said me and Shuichi we'a a diffe'ant kinda cute. Why isn't he cute like me?" Yuki laughed softly and reached back to brush a stray bang away from her eyes.  
  
"He is, but he wouldn't be too happy with me if I told him that," he answered before turning back to finish the ride home.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Couldn't you have just carried me inside?" Shuichi asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, standing dazed in the genkan to Yuki's house. He still refused to refer to it as his, because Yuki could still kick him out any time he pleased.  
  
"Sleeping Beauty wasn't so heavy in the fairytail," Yuki commented, smiling. He'd missed their little cutsie arguements. You weren't allowed to tease a five-year-old. You'd loose.  
  
"Prince Charming wasn't so 'charming,' either," Shuichi teased in return, dropping his things in the center of the floor and starting to rearrange them like they'd been before he'd left. He jumped as the phone rang but Yuki answered it quickly enough. After a short bit he set it down on the table and called for Yukiko.  
  
"Sa'ah!" she screamed as she ran into the living room, sliding across the floor in her socks on purpose. "Hi hi!" she chirped over the phone and Yuki sat down next to Shuichi and helped him unpack, still knowing exactly where each item went. "I'll ask!" Yuki flinched at those words. Ask. Never good words. "Daddy, can I stay ove'a at Sa'ah's? She had a bi'thday pa'aty that I didn't go to but she's having a sleepove'a now and I wanna go." Yuki blinked a couple times and Shuichi giggled at how cute he'd become over the years.  
  
"You've never wanted to go before."  
  
"Because then daddy'd be alone and start c'wying again but now Shuichi's he'a so can I go?" she asked, bouncing up and down impatiently.  
  
"So long as I don't have to drive you there." Yukiko nodded and turned back to the phone.  
  
"He said so long as I get a w'ide the'a." She nodded a couple times before hanging up the phone. "She'll pick me up in a half-hou'a" she exclaimed, running out of the room and into the room Yuki had designated as her's. Yuki blinked as he found Shuichi attatched to his arm. Now what had brought that on?  
  
"Um...Shuichi?"  
  
"Sleepy," he stated simply, leaning his head against his shoulder.  
  
"Aren't you going to finish packing? Listen to my explanation?" Shuichi blinked a couple times before sitting up and yawning. Yuki was quite pleased with that accomplishment. He hadn't had to pry him off and he was already standing up and walking the other way. Wait a minute...  
  
"The stuff can stay there for now, I just wanna know what's going on," Shuichi managed around a yawn and Yuki grabbed the back of his shirt, making him fall back on his butt in front of him on the ground.  
  
"Who said I'll tell you if my house looks like this?" Yuki asked, motioning to Shuichi's stuff.  
  
"Me?" he asked innocenly, leaning back to stare up at him from the floor.  
  
"Sure," Yuki stated as well, rolling his eyes before he started to put away the rest of Shuichi's things. "If you don't help I'm not telling you." Shuichi frowned and crawled back over to his stuff.  
  
"I can tell you've been taking care of a child, you threaten like it," Shuichi countered, putting his Kumagoro on the couch and sitting down, finished. "Can I have a sucker now?" he asked hopefully, staring up at him with bright, begging eyes. They both blinked at the sound of footsteps, fogetting the other occupant of the house for those few precious moments between them.  
  
"Byebye daddy!" Shuichi blinked as Yukiko materialized next to Yuki, smiling sadly as he watched him pick her up and kiss her cheek, running fingers through her hair as she talked, paying attention. That was what he'd always wanted before. Yuki's attention.  
  
"Don't look so sad," Yuki stated as he walked back into the room and sat down on the couch next to Shuichi. When Shucihi didn't say anything he sighed and leaned over, kissing his cheek as well. "Are you happy now?" he asked, leaning back against the couch.  
  
"Tell me what happened," Shuichi demanded softly, forcefully. Yuki blinked a couple times before sighing again and running fingers through his hair and thinking of where to start.  
  
"I had an old friend back when I was in third grade. Her name was Saito Shizue. We were friends since about then. She was very pretty and cheerful. Very straight-forward, too." Yuki sighed again, glancing over at Shuichi, who was staring at him intently. Great, a captive audience of one. "She knew there was something wrong with me when I got back from New York, and being my friend she tried to help me out. I snapped at her and she didn't talk to me for a year. When she came back I was already starting to make it big. I screamed at her then too, and she asked me if I could do her one favor. I thought she was going to ask me for an autograph or something to prove she'd known me so I agreed. She wanted a child, and I'd never broken a promise before then so I went through with it. Left Kyoto as soon as that 'obstical' was over, came here to Tokyo, and had Tohma get me a nice place to live."  
  
"Yuki! That's terrible! How can you just call her an obstical!" Shuichi shut up as Yuki stared back at him, sinking a little farther into the couch. He shouldn't have judged Yuki so quickly, he should have known that by then. Yuki turned back to stare at the wall as he spoke.  
  
"Anyway, about three weeks after you left for America Shizue came over and asked me to take care of Yukiko for her. She'd gotten very sick and wanted me to babysit her for a bit so Yukiko didn't catch it and so she might be able to have faint memories of her father when she was older. I agreed since she sort of reminded me of you. Shizue died later that week and I decided I'd take Yukiko in, since I was her father afterall. Also, I just couldn't go back to living alone," Yuki explained, locking his eyes with Shuichi again. Shuichi blinked a couple more times before smiling sweetly and curling up against Yuki.  
  
"You loved her," Shuichi stated as Yuki wrapped arms around him. "Didn't you? You don't have to lie to cheer me up"  
  
"I thought I did back then, but I was too afraid to have a family with her and stay with her through it, but I'm not afraid of what I have right now. I think this is close enough for me," Yuki answered and Shuichi smiled.  
  
"So, I can be a part of you and Yukiko's family now? Officially?" Yuki laughed softly and ran his fingers through Shuichi's hair.  
  
"Yeah. It's official. You're still stuck with daddy 2, though." Shuichi giggled and closed his eyes, falling asleep faster than he had in all the nights he'd stayed in America. There was no replacement for his good ol' Yuki pillow. Not even his ultra soft pillow compared.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
FINISHED!!! My GAWDS that was hard to finish! Ah! I know this chapter is worse than the other two, please be nice to it! I'm kind of out of it at the moment and I PROMISE I'll go back and fix the typos and stuff later! Hehe, all of you wnated to know what Yuki was going to say and it wasn't even all that great of a line... ^_^  
  
As soon as I get somewhere on my other fics/fic ideas I might actually write a sequel about Yukiko's life later one. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. Hope you guys liked it, thanks for sticking with it! 


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